Welp, China Orders All Cinemas To Close Once Again

Published On March 27, 2020 » 151 Views» By Z-rowe »

We told you on Monday that there was light at the end of the tunnel in China. Over 500 cinemas in China reopened last week, and while that only represented 4.5% of the country’s theater real estate, it was still a sign of hope.

In fact, many believed even more theaters across China would open in April.

The country’s national film bureau has contacted all exhibitors today saying that venues must be closed again, with no immediate timeframe for re-opening. The news has begun to spread across popular social media service Weibo.

And while community spread of the coronavirus has nearly went to zero in China, they are still experiencing imported cases (53 reported on Thursday) and they are fearful that could cause another spike.

As you can imagine, China is being very cautious with this. They were hit hard, with over 80,000 cases reported, but likely there were many more. They are doing everything they can to prevent another outbreak.

Their troubles started in late December/early January, and they are still largely shutdown. Our troubles here in the US started in late February/early March, so it makes you wonder how long we’ll be shutdown for.